The drug and device industries have a lot hinging on the results of the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential and congressional elections. Tax policies. The reach of the FTC. Legislation aimed at drug prices, competition, pharmacy benefit managers and lab-developed tests. Cabinet and agency appointments that could reshape Medicare drug negotiations, the 340B program, FDA Orange Book device patent listings, regulatory flexibility and Bayh-Dole march-ins. And that’s just the top of the list.
The U.S. SEC filed insider trading charges against Ruimin Xie, the former director of analytical development at Bellus Health Inc., for allegedly receiving ill-gotten gains of $59,408.42 by acting on word of a potential acquisition by GSK plc.
Insider trading isn’t always about profits. Sometimes it’s avoiding losses. That’s the basis of the U.S. SEC’s complaint against Matthew Groom, an information technology consultant to Spero Therapeutics Inc. Groom agreed Sept. 15 to a $28,000 settlement to resolve the complaint stemming from a trade of Spero shares that enabled him to avoid $13,000 in losses when news of the company’s downsizing and issues with its lead product became public two years ago.
South San Francisco-based Septerna Inc. filed an S-1 with the U.S. SEC to conduct an IPO on Nasdaq about two years and eight months after launching operations with a $100 million series A led by Third Rock Ventures. The company is focused on G protein-coupled receptor oral small molecules derived from its Native Complex Platform, aimed at treating diseases within the endocrinology, immunology and inflammation, and metabolic diseases realms.
Apimeds Pharmaceuticals US Inc., a subsidiary of Seoul, South Korea-based Inscobee Inc., is “counting down” to an official IPO on the New York Stock Exchange with its S-1 filing showing a targeted offering of $11.5 million.
Apimeds Pharmaceuticals US Inc., a subsidiary of Seoul, South Korea-based Inscobee Inc., is “counting down” to an official IPO on the New York Stock Exchange with its S-1 filing showing a targeted offering of $11.5 million.
The U.S. SEC settled charges against Philip Markin, a fifth person charged in connection with an insider trading scheme involving the February 2021 $1.85 billion offer by Merck & Co. Inc. to acquire Pandion Therapeutics Inc.
Criminal and civil charges related to insider trading were filed Sept. 10 against Dishant Gupta based on his stock purchases of Epizyme Inc. in the months leading up to its acquisition by Ipsen SA.
Another day, another insider trading deal involving biopharma stock. One of the latest U.S. SEC cases involves a retired dentist, Stephen Forlano Sr., who traded on a tip passed on through his son from a close friend who was an analyst at an investment firm handling a strategic financing collaboration with Harmony Biosciences Holdings Inc.